A typical fixed network automatic meter reading system comprises utility meter data origination sites, repeaters, gateways, and a backhaul network. The utility meter data origination sites include radio frequency transmitters or transceivers located at a utility meter, which is contemplated as a water meter or a gas meter. The transmitters or transceivers communicate with receivers via a wireless radio frequency communication link. If these receivers communicate with a large number of utility meter data origination sites (hereafter sometimes referred to simply as “sites”) either directly or through relay devices known as repeaters, and also interface to a backhaul network, they are known as gateways. Gateways collect the data from a plurality of utility meter data origination sites and pass the information through a wired or wireless network (local or wide area network), sometimes called a “backhaul network,” to a central data collection system, where the data is processed for billing purposes. This backhaul network may include various public or private systems such as the WIFI (a wireless LAN), GPRS (a second generation cellular network), POE (Power over Internet), or CDMA (code division multiple access) or others known in the art.
These systems. both mobile and fixed, have been known in the art as AMR systems or “Automatic Meter Reading Systems.” More recently, the term “AMI” or “Advanced Metering Infrastructure” has been used to describe fixed network systems having some two-way communication abilities.
The description herein relates to the installation and operational start-up of transmitters/transceivers at the sites of specific utility meters (referred to as site transceivers). The meter reading devices which include the site transceivers transmit messages to the gateway and receive return messages from the gateway. As disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/792,128, the meter reading device, after assignment to a gateway, will transmit messages with the gateway address. If the message is not received after two tries, the message is sent with a generic gateway address to be received by any gateway. This generic address is also used for the system initialization phase or discovery phase before the site transceiver has been assigned to a specific gateway.
The site transceivers operate on battery power. Therefore, it is advantageous to shut them off, or return to a low power state, when not communicating with a gateway.
The system must be adaptable to allow a large number of remote sites to communicate through gateways to a network data reader at a data collection center.